Risa Megan Ward
by Lindsay Lee Wells
Summary: The story about how Risa came to be named


**Risa Megan Ward**

The story of how Risa Ward came to be named

In the world of Ohio State Home 23, there is a fine line between being watched and being a watcher. About two years, really. Once you're nine there's not so much supervision, with an adult or a teenager or two watching over the crowds of kids to make sure nobody gets killed. Not getting killed is pretty much the best thing you can say if you're a ward of the state- until you turn 13, that is. Then you're considered lucky to make it out in one piece.

When you're eleven or so, you begin to earn your keep, whether that be watching over the vast herds of young ones, working in the kitchen or cleaning around the building. For Opal and Megan, they worked in the nursery, with rows and rows of crying babies in identical steel cribs. Babies were only known by their numbers and identification bracelets until somebody bothered to get around to naming them. That was generally every other Sunday, when a computer generator spat out random names at them. The nurses and older children could name them, but there was never a spare moment for themselves, let alone naming every poor soul in their care. Everyone was too busy running around, trying to feed hungry infants.

Opal and Megan were best friends, and considered themselves sisters, as they were only born four days apart (Or so they assume. Newborns abandoned are just given the day they were brought in as their date of birth.) Opal used to be a nameless, crying face in the nursery, but Megan was brought in as a four year old when her mother overdosed. They stuck together growing up, and they vowed to stay like that for as long as they both shall live. Wedding vows for best friends.

"Opal! Bring them up for naming!" barked Nurse Hailey. Opal could tell that she was young, but the stress of working at a StaHo got to all of the nurses, even the painfully sweet-natured and religiously devout.

Walking up to Nurse Hailey and Nurse Anna, she passed Megan, who was holding a tiny girl in her arms.

"Say hello to Lenora Lauren," Megan said, lifting up the baby's arm to wave.

Opal smirked. "Better name than Megan."

"Way better than Opal. Seriously, what a stupid name. Anyway, grab the sweet little guy who sleep next to her. Time for a naming!" her friend said as she placed Lenora back down in her crib. "Night-night, Nora."

Opal picked up the umber boy in the next crib, who made gurgling noises when picked up. Poor little ones, starving for attention and love. As she walked over to where the nurses were, she held the boy in her arms close to her chest, wanting to give him the feeling of love.

"Hand him over," ordered Nurse Anna, not so much unkind as overstressed. The nurse checked the tag on his small wrist- Number M-178-C. Typing it out on the ancient, slow computer, his name came up on the screen.

"Felix Gregory Ward." She read in a monotone, marking the name on the boy's armband. "Now, hurry up and bring up the others."

The girl holds Felix close to her, praying to whatever G-d there is to look over him. He's just a helpless, doomed kid who has no future, just the present. So she hold him close for a few second too many, know that's all he'll ever get.

She finally puts him down, and reaches over to pick up the crying baby in the crib next to Felix. "Hush, little one," she says soothingly, knowing that there is every reason to cry.

By the time evening comes, Opal Justine is exhausted. She's helped out with Nathan Oscar, Marie Paige, Isla Kristin, Samson Bradley and countless others. She finally finishes feeding and changing the infants she's been assigned to and goes off to her own dinner in the dining hall. Megan spots her and calls her over to the seat she saved for her. "Thanks, Megan Rose," she said in their traditional naming day fashion. "Thanks for grabbing me dinner. Or whatever this is." She said looking down at what is supposedly chili and cornbread.

Even though the meal was questionably edible, Opal rushed through it. She was starving after working all Saturday and couldn't get enough in her mouth.

Halfway through the meal, she looked over to see her best friend staring at Jonah, a boy sitting at the next table over. He had straight dark hair and a perpetual grin.

"Crushing on Jonah, much?" Opal asked bashfully. Megan blushed, mortified.

"No, no, just… just staring off into space."

"I didn't know space happened to be where Jonah sits." Opal teased.

"Okay, okay. I really like him." Megan confessed. "Like really, really like him. He's just so funny and happy and great."

Megan's best friend gave a sly smile before shouting over the cafeteria's din. "Hey, Jonah!"

He looked up from his group of friends. Opal beckoned him over with her finger.

"What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing?" whispered Megan forcefully as he approached.

"Nothing. Just thought you should know my dear Megan over here has a crush on a certain somebody."

Jonah's eyes lit up. "Really? Would I happen to know him?"

"You happen to be him."

Megan looked up from the ground to give Opal a death stare. Turning towards Jonah, she stammered. "Yeah, I think I like you…" she trailed off.

"Well, I think I like you, too." Jonah said, smiling stupidly. "Wanna hang out in the courtyard after dinner?"

"She'd love to!" Opal said in place of her speechless friend. "She'll meet you there around eight."

"Cool. See ya, Meg!" Jonah said, turning back to where his friends sat. No doubt they'd tease him about the date.

"Opal?" Megan asked her once Jonah was out of earshot.

"Yeah?"

"I hate you. A lot."

Opal smiled. "Love you too, dear."

As soon as Megan finished her last bite of cornbread, Opal dragged her to their dormitories and started getting her ready. She French braided her hair and went around to the other girls, borrowing and trading clothes until Megan had a proper outfit for her and Jonah's first date. It was a white-collared shirt with blue high top shorts. They were Serena's, who was bigger, so they borrowed Annalise's oversized, stud covered brown belt. Even the girls in the dorm they hardly talked to came over and agreed that Megan looked great. Just as she was about to go out, Marcella came over and handed over her silver necklace, with an metallic "_M"_ in cursive writing. "Jonah's a lucky guy."

Megan just smiled nervously. "Thanks, Marcella."

"No problem. Just be sure to tell us everything when you get back. And I mean _everything._"

Opal and the others watched as the dolled-up girl walked out the door and down the endless hallway.

"She's so gorgeous," Serena said softly as Megan grew further and further away. "But she'd be nothing without my shorts."

They all laughed, and then group scattered, a few off hanging out with their own friends or going out with their own boyfriends, but most just sitting on their bunks in the sparse, overcrowded dormitory.

Just before the 11:00 lights out, Megan snuck back into the dorm. They weren't supposed to be out passed ten, so it was a wonder that she made it back without being caught. The other girls were was already dressed for bed, but almost everyone crowded around her to hear how it went.

"How was it?" Annalise inquired as soon as Megan passed through the door.

"Did you kiss?" Janet asked.

"Did you do it?" Katrina asked.

"Trina!" Annalise exclaimed. "You don't just ask people that!"

"Don't blame me for being curious!" Katrina said. "I mean, we all remember when Marcella and Eddie-"

"Oh my God, that was _one_ time!" Marcella interrupted, turning red. "Anyway, let's just talk about Megan and her hook-up"

"Come on guys, we didn't hook up. Honestly, we've been dating since dinner and you expect us to be sleeping together?"

"Well, tell us what happened then!" yelled Serena from across the room.

"It was really, well, nice. We walked around the courtyard, a little talking, a little flirting. He snuck some food from the kitchen, since he's part of the after-dinner clean-up. It was a lot of fun."

"C'mon, tell us if you kissed!" Janet begged.

A sly smile crept onto Megan's face. "I don't kiss and tell," she said.

"You kissed!" Opal said gleefully. Up until this outburst, she had kept quiet, just wanting to hear whatever Megan said about her date, and not be part of the stampede demanding details. She was glad that her matchmaking skills paid off.

"Yeah, we kissed. It was great," admitted Megan "It was really, _really_ great"

"What's the big deal, though?" Katrina asked. "It's not like she's the first or last girl in here to be kissed. I mean, Marcella got to third base when she was like, ten?"

"Hey!" Marcella shrieked indignantly. "I was twelve!"

"Barely." Katrina muttered. "Anyway, it's not my business. I just want to hear about Megan's date.

Opal rolls her eyes. Katrina always had to bring somebody down.

The girls gathered in a circle around Megan's bunk, wanting to hear about her love story. Usually, the group of 20 girls who were roomed together were for the most part indifferent to each other, but tonight they all wanted to hear about Jonah Vincent Ward.

Every little detail Megan said resulted in a flurry of "awwws" from the group of girls- the group that had to scurry to their beds when supervisors from the hall entered, demanding them to be quiet. They all came back to Megan, though, wanting to hear how everything ended.

The detail that stood out to Opal the most was Jonah speaking about Megan's smile- or sonrisa, as he put it.

"Why the Spanish?" Annalise asked.

"That's the thing he's best at, language. He's in like, the most advanced Spanish class. He picks it up really fast.

"He told me that I have the most beautiful sonrisa he'd ever seen. I could tell it wasn't him just joking around and being flirty. He really thinks that. Honestly, hearing him say that was the best thing in the world."

"But Meg, you're awful at Spanish. You hate it." Opal reminded her friend.

"Not the way Jonah speaks it. His words just make sense. Like, I can tell exactly what he's saying, even though I can't understand the individual words."

By then, it was late and everyone was tired. It was Monday tomorrow, and they all had classes and work to go to. They went to bed for real this time, falling asleep with a dream of a perfect date already in their heads.

The room was finally quiet, but Opal opened her eyes and saw Megan awake on the bed next to her.

"Hey," she said quietly. Megan looked over, her eyes bright with the future.

"Hey, Pal," she said, using their ages old nickname. "What's up?"

"Just wondering if you actually, really like him."

Usually, Megan would reply with a snarky response dripping in sarcasm, but she was too happy and energetic to act like she didn't care. "Yeah. A lot."

Opal gave a huge, goofy grin. "That's great, Meg. I bet the two of you will fall in love and get married and escape this hellhole- bringing along your best friend, of course."

Megan began to grin against her better judgment. "A girl can dream."

"You'll get married- I'll be the maid of honor, of course- and you'll live happily ever after with ten beautiful babies."

The smile was wiped off of Megan's face as soon as the word "babies" was uttered. "No," she said forcefully. "I won't have a baby."

The sudden change in her demeanor shocked Opal. Sure, she'd heard all of her best friend's rants on the unwanted babies, on how they suffered so much and so many of them were to be unwound.

"I'll never have kids. I mean, look at all of the suffering the kids here go through. What we've gone through. How could you bring life into the world only to have it be irreparably broken?

Well, that killed the mood, Opal thought. Megan had an intense look in her eyes, an aged feeling that every single ward of the state knew. They all had grown up too fast. This night was one of the few nights when they had been, well, normal teenaged girls.

"Okay, okay." Opal thought of a new future for a moment. "How 'bout you and Jonah and I and whoever I end up with become superheros and fight crime and injustice and help the StaHo kids?"

Megan still wasn't laughing. "Face it, Opal. When have StaHo kids ever done anything good? We make it to eighteen if we're lucky, and then what? Nothing, that's what. We're just the unloved unwanted rejects."

"But you're not a StaHo kid," insisted Opal, trying to keep her voice quiet in the night. "You weren't born here like the rest of us. You're from out there- the real world. And you know what life's like, out there."

"I have exactly one memory of the outside world, and you know what that is? Finding my mom on the floor, not breathing. Then I got dumped here. That's all I remember about life outside of this StaHo. The rest of the world isn't some magical place were all of your problems are fixed."

Opal reached her arm across to try to comfort her friend, but Megan pulled away. "Meg, just think about right now. You've got me, you've got Jonah, and you've got the girls in the bunk."

Megan didn't reply, and silence filled up the world once more. Opal knew Megan was still awake, but didn'tbother her. Maybe the future was just a contiation of the tragedy StaHo kids knew. It probably was. But why should that stop them from living life?

The next months trudged on with the same schoolwork, mostly edible meals and work in the nursery. Megan did become happier and more optimistic, spending her time with Jonah. Opal and her dorm-mated would stay up sometimes, talking or doing work on their own, and then hush down when Megan broke curfew and snuck back in. They pressed for details ("Did you do it yet?" Marcella asked.) but Megan rarely gave answers. She'd only smile and play matchmaker, pairing the repulsive Julian with Annalise, or Katrina with Gary, a bully who'd been in so many fights it was surprise he hadn't been dragged off for Unwinding yet. All the girls would shudder at the names Megan would playfully throw out, but Janet surprised everyone when she actually picked up the courage to ask out the loner and suspected drug dealer Franklin.

"You _do_ know I paired you up as a joke, right?" Megan ask when she'd mentioned that she'd asked him out.

"Yeah but he's nice, he really is. Plus we work together cleaning the cafeteria on the weekend, and he's super helpful."

"I thought he was a pothead.'

Janet shrugged. "Probably. But none of the teachers suspect him, so it's not a big deal."

Opal still wasn't convinced. "If he's so great, then why does he not, like, interact with other human beings at all?"

Janet shrugged again. "Ask him. But we're going to hang out tomorrow. You're not the only one with a boyfriend, Megan!"

Months later, it was another day, another . Holding the week-old Lyle Daniel in one arm, she waved to Megan across the room. Megan, however, didn't wave back. She looked exhausted and ill, even though she'd been getting plenty of sleep these last few weeks.

Still clutching the small child, Opal went over to her friend, concerned. "Meggie? You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm… fine." She said hesitantly. "I'm fine."

"Megan, you look awful-"

"I'm fine!" she snaps, irritable and overworked. "I just need to get this stupid work over with so I can get the hell out of here."

"Okay, okay, calm down." her friend said, turning away. Opal resolved to leave her alone and not even think about her until the shift was over. "I don't know what her problem is," she said to the baby in her arms. Lyle didn't respond.

"Shift's over. Get off to dinner," announced Nurse Hailey later that evening. She was sitting at her desk, tending to a colicky child.

When it was meal time again, Opal put down Jaime Elena Ward and went off to the cafeteria. She had seen Megan leave a few minutes earlier, so she was probably sitting with Jonah. An empty spot was found with Serena and Katrina, who were talking about what they'll do once they age out of the StaHo at eighteen. It's three years away, but who wouldn't want to escape?

"I'm telling you, 'Rena, being a pilot must be the best job." Katrina said before shoveling overcooked rice in her mouth.

"Good luck getting into flight school." Serena said, bemused. "But if we're talking about impossible dream jobs, I'd love to be President. I'd deport whoever cooked this crap."

"For some reason, I don't think government works like that." Opal skeptically, putting her tray down. "But I'd be your Vice-President and would totally support you in your rice-banning crusade."

"Hey, where's Megan?" Katrina asked. It was truly a rare site, seeing Opal and Megan apart. A little less rare nowadays, since Jonah swept Megan off her feet, but still unusual.

Opal shrugged. "Dunno. She left before me."

"Probably making out with _Jo_nah" Serena teased, emphasizing his name.

"Do you think a sixteen year old boy- especially one as tall as Jonah -would miss out on dinner?" questioned Katrina. "Like, Megan's pretty, but not pretty enough to make a boy forget to eat."

"Apparently not, seeing as he's walking towards us now."

Jonah approached the table, alone. "Hey, guys, Have you seen Risa?" he said, calling her by her pet name.

"No, we though she was with you." Serena answered.

"Then where is she?" Jonah asked.

Opal searched for a logical answer. "She was acting weird before. Maybe she's in the infirmary."

She wasn't.

The first thing Opal saw when she had returned to her dorm was Megan sitting on her bed, hair covering her face. Her arms crossed her body, looking like somebody had died.

"Meg!" she said, rushing over to her bedside like she was on her final breath. "Meg, what's wrong?"

She looked up at Opal, who saw her eyes. They didn't hold the happiness of a teenager in love for the first time. They didn't hold the vision of a girl who wanted to escape the prison of Ohio State Home 23. Her eyes were wild with fear and desperation.

"Not here," she said under her breath. "We'll talk out in the courtyard."

Megan grabbed her hand, dragging her out into the hallway. "Meg, tell me what's wrong. You're starting to freak me out."

Once again, Megan stayed silent and didn't say anything, just pushed open the door to the courtyard. It was a concrete covered stretch of land, with a jungle gym on one side. Young kids were crawling on top of it, jumping off and chasing each other.

"Megan, I swear if you don't tell me what the hell is going on-"

"Opal… it's bad. It's really, really bad."

"Tell me!" her sister whispered forcefully, knowing that whatever was about to be said, it wasn't something for the entire StaHo population to hear.

"I don't know why she had it. I mean she's in charge of babies, for God's sake." Megan rambled. She always did his when she got nervous. "But I snuck in there and grabbed one, and it's positive and I don't know what to do."

"What are you _talking_ about?" she demanded.

Megan looked up, her eyes one tear drop away from overflowing. "I'm pregnant."

Opal's jaw dropped open. _This can't be true_, thought Opal_. Megan can't be pregnant. Don't they know what they do with pregnant girls? They send them off to a StaHo designed for "special cases" and keep them there until the baby's born, then they're unwound. This can't be happening. Especially to my Megan, the girl who loves the unloved so much but would never bring an innocent child into this world._

"D-Does Jonah know?" Opal asks shakily, once she can form a coherent sentence.

"No, and _please_ don't tell him. They unwind the dads of the babies, too. I can't let anything happen to him. I love him."

"You can't hide it, though. You'll start to show in a couple months, and then what? You'll barely be sixteen, so they'll send you two off. And where will the baby go? Right back here to a StaHo."

"This is why I never wanted a baby!" Megan breaks down, sobbing into Opal's shoulder. "I never wanted something I love so much already to suffer like this. Why was I so stupid? I'm just so _stupid!_"

Opal wraps her arms around her best friend, her sister. Megan holds back just as tight, knowing that things will never be the same for them ever again.

"I'm getting rid of it." She whispers.

"_What?"_ Opal says, shocked. She lets her friend go in disbelief. "You just said that you love it!"

"Too much to let it suffer. It's better this way, trust me."

Opal looks into Megan's eyes for the thousandth time. They don't hold the future a teenager dreams of, but of a mother's love for a child she will never hold., and determination to do what she knows is the right thing.

"If anyone finds out…"

"They won't." she promises. "If everything goes right, things will get back to normal."

"But how?" her best friend asks.

"There's medicine that will get rid of the baby if I take too much of it. I can sneak it from storage, if I'm lucky."

"No, it's too dangerous." Opal protests. If Megan gets caught, she'd be sent away tonight.

"I don't have a choice! If the baby is born they'll test who the father is! And then he'd be unwound. _I can't let that happen!_"

Even though deep down, Opal knew that this is the only way, it breaks her heart to see the only person she loves broken down by this. She wished that the threat of unwinding didn't hang in the air, that Megan's child would be born and held and loved by it's parents. She that the damn StaHo would burn to the ground and that they'd all be free of it's walls. She wished that Megan didn't have to do this.

They were silent for a while, before Megan said softly, "You know, this is where Jonah and I had our first date."

It was the middle of the night when Megan snuck out. The other girls were asleep, trapped in their own dreams while Megan was awake in her nightmare. Opal was in bed, under her blanket but wide awake, she couldn't sleep but was forced to lie in bed. Megan point-blank refused to let Opal risk helping her.

"If this doesn't work, I'm doomed, Jonah's doomed, and the baby's doomed." Megan reasoned. "I need to live. I'd rather get caught and unwound alone than with you."

Opal listened as Megan quietly escaped her bed and shuffled out. She paused for a moment, and leaned over Opal's seemingly sleeping body. She leaned over and kissed Opal's forehead. A farewell.

Her eyes flew open. "I love you," she breathes, nearly inaudible.

Megan doesn't respond, just gives one last longing look before slipping out the door on a despreate mission to save Jonah.

Opal must have finally fallen unconscious because she's woken up by shouting. The fluorescent lights flickered on as adults stormed into the room.

"Everybody up!" a stern woman shouts. "Out of bed! Now!"

Opal's heart shatters in her chest, knowing that this could only mean one thing: That Megan was caught. Now she, Jonah and the baby are doomed.

Now that her eyes have adjusted to the lights, Opal can see who the woman is. She's the Head Night Guard, an intimidating gray-haired woman with scars on her face- from battles or transplants from Unwinds, nobody knew.

All the girls in the dorm were out of bed, confused and terrified. Nobody but Opal noticed that there were only 19 of them.

"Who was the father of Megan's child?" demanded the woman.

Shocked gasps come from every girl. "Megan's _pregnant?_" Annalise said in a hushed tone.

"Was." The night guard spoke briskly. "She ingested stolen medicine to kill the child within her. She was caught, but it was too late to save the child. She murdered her own baby.

"Now, tell me. Who fathered Megan Ward's child?"

Not one of the girls spoke up. They all remained silent, knowing what would happen to Jonah if they betrayed him.

"Tell me, or all of you will be severely punished!"

Nobody spoke.

The Night Guard grew angrier with the lined up girls. She grabbed the girl closest to her, Marcella, and shouted in her face, "I know you know! Tell me who he is!"

Marcella is screaming, "Let go of me, you old bitch-"

"Ronald!" Opal shouts. "Megan was dating Ronald but he turned eighteen last month and left." She had chosen the name off the top of her head, remembering how Jonah had mentioned his friend had aged out of the system.

"Let that be a lesson to all you girls!" the Night Guard snarls. "Never trust boys. Never trust older boys. They will leave you with nothing."

The woman turns to leave, her guards following her to the door.

"Wait!" Janet cried. "What's going to happen to Megan?"

"You know the penalty," one of the guards says, turning around to face them. "Unwinding."

He leaves, shutting the door behind him. Everyone is in stunned silence, before Annalise starts to wail.

"No!" she cries. "No, this isn't okay!" she begins to sob uncontrollably. "This can't be happening! Megan can't be gone!"

Marcella puts her arms around her, and soon we are all in a huddled mass, 19 girls crying over the 20th. Many of the girls didn't ever talk to Megan, and hardly knew her. But they all shared an invisible bond, especially since none of their group had been unwound before.

Katrina pulls Opal into a hug. "I'm sorry," she whispers in her ear. "I am so, so sorry."

Opal doesn't remember the fact that Katrina always brought everyone down and constantly stirred up trouble. She doesn't remember how Katrina always brought her and Megan down, always stirred trouble. Because right now, in her moment of need, Katrina's there for her. When her own sister can't be.

The group of girls had been lying there for what could have been minutes or hours when a realization dawned upon them.

"Jonah," Serena says. "Oh God, is he gonna be alright?"

Opal had completely forgotten about him in her own grief. "He doesn't know," she said slowly. "I have to tell him right now!"

Opal runs out of the room to Jonah's dorm, where he's asleep, unaware of the nightmare he's about to wake up to.

She bursts into the room Megan had shown her many months ago. "Jonah!" she yells into the room of sleeping boys. "Where is he?"

From the corner of the room, a sleepy boy sits up in bed. "Opal?" he says, rubbing his eyes. "Opal, what the hell? What are you even doing here?"

"They took her," is all Opal manages to get out. The other boys are confused why a screaming girl is in their dorm before the sun has even risen

"What?" he says, still half-asleep. His face falls when he realizes what Opal means. "Risa?" he croaks.

"She got caught and they'll Unwind her. She did it to save you."

Jonah's wide awake and standing up now, terrified. "She's gonna be Unwound?"

Opal takes a deep breath. "Megan was pregnant. She got caught when she killed it."

Jonah collapses where he stands. Two of his friends run up to help him off the floor, but he's destroyed. His sonrisa will be dismembered and broken within days, a child he never even knew about is gone, and he's never going to get to say goodbye-

"Jonah, we need to find her. Right now." Even as empty and shattered as they both feel right now, Opal knows they need to get to her, now. Neither will ever recover from the heartbreak, but this is their last chance to say I love you.

She manages to pull Jonah onto his feet and through the door, tears down both of their faces. The rest of the world is fast asleep, while two teenagers run through Ohio State Home 23 complex. Their feet run despite the pain growing ever step the get closer to Megan.

The two reach the front of the huge building, where Megan is, in record time. The transport center is well guarded, considering many of the wards are off to the nearest harvest camp.

In the early morning hours, there is a guard post at the enterence, holding a gun loaded with Tranq Bullets that he holds close to his body. There's no getting around him. Opal looks to Jonah, unsure of how they're going to get to say their goodbyes, but the boy steps out from the shadows to face him.

"Aaron?" he says unsurely.

The guard, Aaron, looks up. "Jonah? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Who's that" Opal asks, wondering why Jonah would know the guard.

"I used to be a ward, but I landed a job once I turned eighteen a few months ago." Aaron answered. "Guess I'll never leave this hellhole. Anyway, what are you two going here?"

"My girlfriend is here-"

"That girl they brought in an hour ago?" Aaron cuts him off, horrified. "Oh God, _that's_ the girl you're in love with, Joe? Oh my God."

Jonah can't speak, since he's on the verge of a breakdown. "I- I… yeah. Risa. Just let us in. _Please._" He begs.

Aaron gives a quick, furitive glance down either end of the endless hallway. Deserted. He unlocks the door and ushers the two into the center, which is a long corridor with cells leading off of it. Not all of the kids in here are destined for harvest camps, rather military bases or private academies, but most of the souls in here won't be whole for much longer.

The guard stops on the third door on the right, groping for the right key. He unlocks the rusted door, which creaks open in the silence.

Megan is there, laying on the ancient bed in the corner. She sits up as soon as she catches sight of the them, and gives one of the last genuine smiles of her life. At least while her mouth is still in her body.

"Sonrisa!" Jonah practically shouts, running towards her.

"Shh!" Aaron whispers frantically, looking around for anyone who might have heard. "If anyone catches us, we're all dead."

But Jonah and Megan pay no attention to Aaron, who's already stepped outside and shut the door. There are now the three left in the cinderblock cell, but the two would-be parents were already holding each other close, oblivious to the world outside of them.

"We- we have a baby?" Jonah says, his voice shaky. He reaches down to stroke Megan's belly, but she flinches away.

"She's gone now. To a better place."

He looks up at Megan. "She?"

Megan nods. "I've been in here, alone with my thoughts, for a while. I was just thinking of what could have been. We would have escaped. Had a little girl. Raised her like we should have been raised."

Their foreheads are brushing against each other now, they were holding each other so closely.

"We could have named her Risa," Jonah says with a sad smile.

"Haven't we already?" Megan asks.

Opal was still sitting in the corner of the cell. Her knees collapse under her and she falls to the ground, crying. While Jonah is comforted by Megan's presence, it makes Opal inconsolable.

Megan broke away from her lover and crouches down to her sister, stroking her hair. "Pal," she said softly. "Pal, it's gonna be alright. You and Jonah are gonna make it to eighteen and get the hell out of here. Just look after each other, alright?"

"I don't want to make it to eighteen!" Opal sobs into Megan's arms. "I want to die right now."

"No!" Megan shouts, not giving a damn about being quiet. "No, Opal! You and Jonah have to make it out of here! You have to live because our friends need you and those babies in the nursery need you and Goddamn it, Opal, I need you. Do you think that you being unwound is going to make things any easier? Because it's not!"

Now Megan breaks down, crying. So is Jonah. So is Opal. The three of them are huddled down on the concrete floor, wanting just one more second together.

Aaron opens the door. "It's nearly six," he says hurriedly. "They'll be here any minute and you two need to get the hell out."

"Go!" Megan shouts at the only two people she ever loved, shoving them out of the door. "Go, I love you!"

Aaron drags Opal and Jonah out down the corridor as they both crane their necks, desperate for one last glance of her. They both try to resist Aaron's strong grip, but they're too weak and worn down by life to fight back. He brings them back to the main hallway he found them in and orders them back to their dorms. "I'm so sorry," he says, "I'm just… I'm sorry."

The two stumblr down the hallway, which is now sparsely populated with morning workers setting things up for the day. Staff passing by shout questions at the red-faced teens, but they give no answers and the staff are too busy to get involved. Jonah and Opal reach the hallway that separates the boy dorms from the girls.

"I'm sorry," Jonah says when they've finally stopped running. "I'm sorry for getting her pregnant and killing her. It's all my damn fault."

"No," Opal says, her weak voice gaining power. "No, you loved her. And she loved you. That's all that matters. That's all she wanted."

Opal walks towards the door of her room, but stops when she hears Jonah reply, "She loved you, too."

"I know," she whispers back, not turning around. She walks in through the door, and sees the other girls still huddled on the floor. Annalise gives a strangled cry when she sees her. She runs up and puts her arms around Opal, with the other girls all coming up behind her.

"She's gone," chokes out. "Megan's actually gone."

I nod. "We said goodbye. Me and Jonah. The guard snuck us in and we got to say goodbye one last time."

"What did she say?" Serena asks.

"That she loves you." Opal answers. "She loved all of us. And she wants us to go on without her. Just keep marching on until eighteen."

This was the first girl the group had lost to Unwinding. They had been put together ever since they'd aged out of the nursery system, and had been a dysfunctional group of sisters and cousins and strangers throughout the years. Yes, some girls had been shifted in and out of the group, reclaimed by family members, and when they were nine, Vanessa was adopted by a Pastor and his wife, but the group had remained alive and whole. Nearly every other group had at least one child claimed and marked down for unwinding, called out to meet the headmaster and never seen again. But not Dorm 17G. Until the day Megan tried to save a life.

They could hear the sounds of other children in the hallway, making their way down to breakfast. They, too, were beaten down by life, but none so badly as Opal and Jonah.

"We have to go," Katrina says. "It's breakfast and then we have work and… Fuck it, we can't go today. We're all broken up."

"No, we've got to go." Opal says. "Megan wouldn't want us to give up without her. We can't cut to many classes. Then we'd all be Unwound."

Slowly, the girls start to get up, not even bothering to brush their teeth or change into new clothes. They all stumble out of the door, Katrina with her arm wrapped around Opal's shoulder.

"We'll get through this," she whispers to Opal. "I promise."

They walk as one towards the cafeteria, and all sit down at a mostly empty table, not even bothering to grab anything to eat.

"What day is it?" asks Irene finally, breaking the silence. Irene usually never speaks, preferring to keep to herself. But then again, Katrina usually never comforts Opal. Megan's Unwinding has changed everything.

"Sunday," is Serena's muffled answer, her head still buried in her arms.

Opal realizes what that means. Another day of work in the nursery, naming babies. Megan's child would have ended up there, faceless and unloved.

She sees Jonah walking into the cafeteria, friends with him. He looks exhausted, and it's a wonder he made it down here without passing out in the hallway. He catches Opal's eye, and nods, continuing down with his friends supporting him. If anyone found out why he was so upset, he'd get to see Megan one last time in a Harvest Camp.

"We have to get going," Annalise says after they've all sat in silence for what seems like an eternity. "It's time for work."

Opal, stands up, with Katrina supporting her. "I'm with the five year olds, right by the nursery," she says. "I'll walk you down."

Katrina is far from Megan, but even having somebody to lean on makes every step a little less hard. Slowly, the two make it down to the nursery, where the babies continued their ever present crying.

"Good luck," Katrina says, and leaves for the kids she has to watch over. Opal takes a deep breath, and walks in, and is immediately hounded by Nurse Hailey.

"Opal! What took you so long?" the nurse shouts, holding what appears to be a newborn in her arms.

Opal doesn't answer, which just infuriates Nurse Hailey. "Damn you kids!" she shouts. Nurse Hailey isn't an evil person, intent on ruining Opal and the infant's lives. She's just fed up with the evil and stressful world.

"And where is Megan?"

"Unwound,' Opal says quietly. "Last night."

"Oh," the nurse says. "I'm… I'm sorry." She hurries off with the baby in her arms, leaving Opal to her work.

The broken girl automatically starts her work anyway, picking up the child in the crib closest to her. The baby girl could have been Megan and Jonah's child, with Jonah's soft dark hair and Megan's bright brown eyes.

Opal picks up the giggling, baby and decides she will name her in Megan's memory. But name her what? Megan Hope Ward? Joy Megan Ward? Names swirl around Opal's head as she walks towards Nurse Anna's desk.

"I'm naming this one," Opal says, having decided on a name. "Her name is Risa Megan Ward."


End file.
